He was - several times in the last couple years as far as I recall. But it seems every time he thinks he's out, we pull him back in.

Just one more thing that shows what a lack of proper beta testing and vetting can do. This is something that could very well have been caught and resolved long before going live had BioWare really any understanding of good testing procedures.

Not really. Game design, and MMO design in particular, is much more fluid than your attempt at an analogy. I remember the devs once said that there would never be "holiday events" in this game; there would be no player housing in the game; etc. etc. and yet here we are. Heck, a couple of years ago, they said that return to a focus on story was not really going to be a thing. There are countless numbers of examples in countless numbers of games where things have changes that were apparently set in stone. If the game's profitability ends up being affected down the line, sure as heck there will be more changes down the road - even if it means a complete reversal of the current direction that KotFE has led the game.

Obviously BioWare chose the quick and easy method of offsetting the level gains from the "critical path." Some are fine with how it is now; others are not. Only time will tell how things pan out. Actually these points were discussed in much detail before the announcement of the level syncing became official. There were many good points to be had on both sides, but the conclusion is still the same - there are proven methods of dealing with many of the issues better than the level syncing as implemented in its current form in this game.

I do not support the OP companions,and expect a nerf down the road at some point. I also do not support the mandatory increased leveling gains for the "critical path" storylines - something else that should have had a WAM-like opt out.

It works well for certain things, and not so well for others, and thusly - half-assed; and for those things for which it works - nothing would preclude it from being optional in most of those instances, or tied to specific quests where it kicks in, and still keep it working well. I always supported a mentoring system for the game, and still do - since what we got isn't one.

Actually it is not. There are much more effective ways of solving every issue that has been brought up than using the half-assed carte Blanche syncing that BW implemented.

Great post LA. I was thinking about the communication issue when reading the CM feedback threads over the weekend - where the dev himself was stating how good and useful the dialogue was. That's the kind of communication that many players are looking for, but is sadly lacking on many other issues. It's not incompetence, but it's not really hard to guess where this type of communication, or lack thereof, stems from. In my experience, most developers would love to have an open dialogue with players about their game and features. However - the problem comes from those who are not directly on the dev team. The PR is EA's call and this kind of stuff is SOP for them and a few other publishers. Just look at the whole SimCity fiasco. Every time someone opened their mouth to attempt a BS reason for their foul-ups and decisions, they got caught with their foot in their mouths and with outright lies. Therefore, they went back to their SOP - radio silence until they stopped development on the game and gutted Maxis. They knew exactly what would happen once players were made aware of the changes here. Therefore, BW was muzzled until after the end of the fiscal quarter, where the damage could be mitigated over time.

And I also seem to recall something else that was "working as intended" and then promptly nerfed into the ground because it actually wasn't, so to speak. Anybody remember what that was?

While I think Expertise should be removed anyway, it still wouldn't make me want to PvP any more. Those days are long behind me. I think the problem is more the attitudes of today's gamers, and not with the gear. I have played other MMOs that do not have specific PvP gear or stats and that still does't make PvP any more of a "thing" than it is here. Honestly, go to any MMO forum and look how many people complain about PuGs nowadays. It's not a gear thing, it's a people thing, and that's not going to change any time soon.

And just because you do like if doesn't mean it isn't broken. Things get overtuned and broken all the time in games, that result in further patches to fix them. Cartel Slot Machine ring a bell? I don't care either way, but I would be shocked if companions are left as they are.

Actually it is not one of the reasons they implemented the level syncing. Point of fact, level syncing doesn't affect Expertise at this time, so it pretty much does nothing to prevent the ganking that seems to be so prevalent, yet never complained about until level syncing became a thing. They implemented level syncing as a half-assed way to offset the increased XP gain they have now made mandatory, with no White Acute Module to turn it off. They have also stated that it was done for "mentoring" and for "stuff they may do in the future", because they really had no other game plan other than that and needed to offset the backlash that has occurred from it being carte blanche mandatory.

Well said. Downleveling/mentoring features would have been good to implement in this game - had they been implemented correctly. What we got was BW taking the quick and easy path that now turns the best part of the game into something that feels half-assed.

Indeed. I could watch Fox news and get the impression that America is full of nothing buy Tea Partiests. Taking tidbits from various forum outlets does not reliable data make. The only true test of how things will pan out will be the exit poll conducted by BioWare when people cancel their subscriptions. There is also the fact that there are many different facets to this expansion, and not everyone is going to like everything about it. Ultimately, like anything else in a game, it will boil down to whether the likes outweigh the dislikes. For me, they do not, therefore I will no longer play the game until such a point of time that more things change to reverse that outcome. For others, that is not the case. I know many people on both sides of the fence, none of which have ever gone to any SWTOR related forum outlet to voice their thoughts, nor are they going to do that now. Those that have quit the game have quit and explained why in the exit interview. Those that have not are still playing and will continue to play until such a time that the game no longer becomes enjoyable to them either.

People also wanted this game to be SWG 2.0. To be honest, I would have preferred that over what we got now. That being said, when KotFE was announced, I was glad that BW was finally putting out an "expansion" that focused on the one of two parts of the game that have been neglected since launch - the storytelling. However, I am not pleased with a whole lot of other changes and decisions to the game, so ultimately, despite the focus on story. I have cancelled my subs and will be leaving the game for the forseeable future. The return to storytelling is fine - but only if the story is worth playing, and then replaying with alts. From all appearances, it is not. Therefore, being an MMO whether one likes it or not, the rest of the game must be engaging enough to maintain a stable playerbase to keep the funds and players flowing in. As a result, the lack of endgame/PvP content, and sandbox elements, just makes things worse (and I am not an endgame/PvP/sandbox player). The changes to Ops and FPs are good, and will help in the future, but the current state of the game could have, and should have been much better than what we got.

Indeed. Personally, there have been quite a few changes to the game of late that I thought were pretty good. I also like the idea of syncing/downleveling/mentoring and believe that it is needed in every MMO, including this one. However, BW's implementation of the system is a quick and easy half-assed method. It has already been discussed ad nauseum, so I won't repeat those debates here - but until both the syncing and the increased level gains for the "critical path" get an optional "off switch" then I will not support the game, nor play it as both directly negatively impact my enjoyment of the game, and I will stand by that stance hardcore because that's who I am as a gamer.

It's not as simple as like/dislike. As a concept, level syncing is a good idea - however, implementation is everything. It is implemented poorly here. This has already been discussed ad nauseum, but the "problems" that level sync "solves" can be taken care of in better ways than syncing. The reasons for having it can also be accomplished without making it carte Blanche mandatory. BW took the quick and easy path - we'll see if it leads down the dark path for the game or not in the future.

Actually, with the advanced critical story level gains and level syncing being forced, it more limiting on how one can level than it was before. The only thing that opened up was being able to grind out one particular piece of content in order to level, but my preferred method of playing the leveling game was pretty much eliminated with the change, and that's why I am departing the game. Other than that, pretty well said.

This. There are some people who actually enjoy the leveling aspect of games - and this one in particular since the leveling aspect was the most shining aspect of the game. That has now been completely destroyed by the "Streamlined" leveling and level sync features added to the game. You only progress until you reach max level. After that happens halfway through the original storyline, if that late, then there is no progression for the rest of the game. There was a reason the White Acute Module was added to the game during 12x XP. Not only did BioWare completely ignore the reasons they added it in the first place, they completely misunderstood the need to have it in the game. "Making content relevant" is a hollow reason for level syncing. Whether content is relevant to a particular player or not does not depend on one's level, but upon one's enjoyment of that particular piece of content. Forcing advanced XP gains and level syncing does little to nothing for the relevance of content. Making both optional features does that and a whole lot more good for the game.

First and foremost the “streamlined” leveling (i.e. 12x XP-lite) coupled with the level scaling and having no option to turn either one off is the final straw that broke the proverbial back for me. The fact that there was enough backlash on the increased XP events that the White Acute Module finally made it into the game is enough to know that there are people who would rather level at their own pace, and be able to create the type of challenge they want in the game from moment to moment. Ironically, the Critical Path XP is not going to satisfy those people who preferred the advanced leveling pace of 12x either, so forcing this new system is going to be a fail on both accounts. However, there have been two main other things that have bothered me enough to help in making this final decision: The Inexcusable lack of testing and vetting procedures for major content in an Open Beta format, and the extremely poor communication that BioWare has shown towards the community practically since the game launched. It is simply incredulous to me that major changes to the game are not tested on the PTS in an open beta – closed betas can only go so far in regards to testing and vetting content in a game. This has nothing to do with spoilers, it has everything to do with showing a good faith effort to put forth the best possible content that BioWare can. Of course not every bug, glitch, or exploit can be found or fixed prior to going to live release, but at least with an open beta, the developers can show that they are making every possible effort to release the best product possible. Weeks of patching and bug fixes can be saved by having a proper open beta testing environment for several weeks prior to the launch date of an expansion. Finally, the poor communication speaks for itself (pun intended). The fact that players need to go to datamined information to learn about major and critical changes to a game is inexcusable. Again, spoilers have nothing to do with it. BioWare has shown a consistent inability to appropriately communicate with its playerbase that it’s no wonder it is always in a volatile state. The blogs for KotFE are nothing more than glorified patch notes. There has been no rhyme nor reasons given behind much of the changes that were laid out before the playerbase. Of course this is only the most recent issue – things like the Cartel Slot Machine and many other hot button issues that go unacknowledged have always helped to add fuel to the fire. Some explanations have been provided in the past – notably with class changes and such. But that has been few and far between the kind of communication that is desired and probably needed with many of the changes that have occurred over time. Therefore my subscriptions are cancelled and I will not be playing this game again until at least such a time that the advanced XP gains and the level syncing become optional features.

Yeah, I saw that as well. Again, it seems the primary excuse is for mentoring. It may be me, but I don't read too much into that "may be coming" comment - that's pretty much standard PR speak for *reasons* which translates into "we don't have anything in the works, or even planned, but this sounds good and keeps people interested." Most certainly they can plan for future stuff around level sync - any and every game developer that has it in their game already does that - yes even the many that have the optional systems. Again, as even BW keeps reiterating - it's all about the story and the current design of the planets within the linear storyline will not allow for anything but new areas to be created specifically for new story content, therefore it negates the need to make level sync mandatory carte blanche and can simply be done on a quest by quest or zone by zone basis for the new content. Regardless, it's quite obvious to me where BW's priorities lie in terms of development time and resources, and there's no doubt that the increased leveling pace as well as the level syncing will remain as mandatory carte blanche systems in the game. So with that being said, I think it's time for me to bid adieu to you all. It has been a great run and I have enjoyed the conversations and debates with one and all, but it's time for me to move on to different things and different games. May there be light to shine on your path - wherever your destination may be.

Where did Musco say this exactly? Because upon re-watching the video, the only explanation for level sync was for the mentoring aspect of it. Neither the video or the blog ever mention using level sync for future content on the planets - which again, would not make sense for the storyline, since the old planets occur in the past, and changing them to reflect "current time" events would necessitate rewriting the vanilla story for a few of the classes.

Also for rewards, there should be an option for the "vanilla" rewards - the ones that you get now for being unsynced. No reason to change the reward system when the player is playing the game just as they are now, without the level sync system in place.

And yet, forced level syncing takes away that freedom.

Fair enough. Very good and welcome back. Not wrong. I am talking more design and mechanics on how RPGs have been played for decades - the power creep. Lore really has nothing to do with this point, however, I believe there have been instances in the lore where the characters have gone through stuff like Gods. So just like you said, there is no right nor wrong way to play them - which includes playing them in "Godmode" so to speak. Been that way since before 12x. I've spent hours LFGing for WBs that were up with very little interest. Heck if I had a couple of max level characters to rely on, the group of 5-6 people I was able to gather a couple of times would actually have been able to participate in the content. As it turned out. I still have not had the opportunity to group to kill those WBs. And that is wholly the result of the increased leveling pace which is antithesis to the best part of SWTOR - the leveling game. If the pace was optional, then the syncing for this reason can and should also be optional.